Burbage Fox Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 Something that has been bothering me for a while, its our Midfield and this was highlighted further on Saturday and is a real bug bearer for me. Almost every time one of our midfield players receive the ball, they take a touch back in the same direction as the pass came from, thus slowing the play down. Now I know that sometimes this is required, however they hardly ever/never let the ball run across them and drive forward, just look at how Fabregas does this (I am not expecting our players to be that good) but the Stoke players did this as well. If you throw a blanket over Drinkwater, James, Hammond, King and Cambiasso they are in reality all the same type of player, we really lacking something different in CM a strong running midfield player who can drive us forward.. has anyone else spotted the same thing? its OK for people to moan that the strikers look poor but they need quick service and currently our lack of CM speed of thought and movement is hampering us. Not sure who I would try and get but we really need something.
Munshi Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 Agree, were not really going to get anywhere by passing the ball back to Konchesky so that he can hoof it down the wing to Vardy who gets outmuscled by the centre Half and we lose the ball.
Rialto 290352 Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 At full strength the midfield is only OK for this level. With inevitable injuries and suspensions it is weak. In my opinion the real weakness of the team. How many games have we had even 50% possession?
st albans fox Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 We're not a possession team. We don't play that way. We can't at this level in any case as we don't have the ability front to back. The midfield is good enough to survive. The defence don't make the mistakes and the strikers take a better percentage of the chances created ? Yep - it's not the midfield. We probably won't face another situation like sat where we have three unavailable and the two that play are both just back so not up to speed fitness wise. However, if we can find an attacking midfielder in the next ten days then I would be happier.
kingfox Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 Matty James drives forward with the ball, tbh he always looks to do it at every given opportunity. Cambiasso likes a forward pass albeit stupid lofted one's. Hammond and Drinkwater slow us down, but Hammond for instance is better at other things.
Eskay Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 Our midfield was awful against Stoke. I think its been said before but when Drinkwater has an off game....the team has an off day. On Saturday Danny was absolutely awful. He was struggling to make simple short passes. Our little up turn in form has coincided with Matty James starting to get to terms with this league. Problem is when he is unavailable, we're seriously short in qaulity in those areas. I think we will come to terms with things. I reckom Nige will sort his selection out too. But it might be a touch too late.
RokoNZ Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 It's 9 days out from the end of the window and I don't hear any rumours of attacking midfielders coming in. After 22 games Vardy and Mahrez have 3 assists each, next players, quite a few, have 1 assist. You can put that down to strikers missing opportunities, or a lack of creativity. Either way it's pretty grim reading. Creating approx. 7 shots per match is not good enough. Bottom of the table since round 13, I would think there should be some serious thoughts about adding some spark to the midfield. I know they missed out on Maloney but I hope there are plans underway to bring someone else in I know, stats are sh*t, but if nothing changes from what is currently available the team will go down
les-tah Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 unfortunately if were gonna be known as a team that cant keep possession then we will never progress up this league!
Guest Col city fan Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 Been saying it all season... You can't get a fag paper between any of our midfield players. Mix and match. Of our strikers, only Ulloa has scored enough goals. But I STILL believe they all would have scored more with a midfield playmaker. A player of real quality in the middle.
shade Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 Been saying it all season... You can't get a fag paper between any of our midfield players. Mix and match. Of our strikers, only Ulloa has scored enough goals. But I STILL believe they all would have scored more with a midfield playmaker. A player of real quality in the middle. who?
Guest Col city fan Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 who? To be fair, that's not my job is it. We are meant to have a good scouting network at the club. And it's clear we have lacked quality at both left back and central midfield all season. One of the biggest disappointments of the season, thus far, has been the club's inability to bring in enough players to really kick us on this season. Whether Kramaric has enough to keep us up remains to be seen. But he still needs supply. Our inability to do ANYTHING from set pieces has actually been quite shameful if truth be told.
Babylon Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 At full strength the midfield is only OK for this level. With inevitable injuries and suspensions it is weak. In my opinion the real weakness of the team. How many games have we had even 50% possession? Most teams in the bottom half of the table average about what we do, this possession stuff is a bit a red herring.
Suffolk exile Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 We certainly are not a possession team. Even in the games we have dominated and the games we have won, we have had less the 50% of the ball. This has to be worry, and may well explain why we find ourselves where we are. It also puts even greater pressure on the forwards to finish in games where possession is low and we don't get many chances. I absolutely agree with the statements that our CM's are way too similar. We do lack an attacking midfielder, someone for the oppposition defence to think about aside from our strikers. We are too easy to defend against - too predictable.
Babylon Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 We certainly are not a possession team. Even in the games we have dominated and the games we have won, we have had less the 50% of the ball. West Ham Average 46% Possession. Saints only average 51.9%. People expecting a newly promoted team to be getting 50% in most games are just deluding themselves. Palace average 37.8%, Burnley, 42.7, Us 43.8, QPR 44.5, Hull 44.9. It's about 1 minutes worth of possession on average more per game for a team like west Ham than us.
shade Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 To be fair, that's not my job is it. We are meant to have a good scouting network at the club. And it's clear we have lacked quality at both left back and central midfield all season. One of the biggest disappointments of the season, thus far, has been the club's inability to bring in enough players to really kick us on this season. Whether Kramaric has enough to keep us up remains to be seen. But he still needs supply. Our inability to do ANYTHING from set pieces has actually been quite shameful if truth be told. I'm not being funny, but it's your 'job' to comment on every other aspect of our performances, players and managerial decisions, but suddenly not to suggest a quality attacking midfielder that would come to LCFC?
Babylon Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 I'm not being funny, but it's your 'job' to comment on every other aspect of our performances, players and managerial decisions, but suddenly not to suggest a quality attacking midfielder that would come to LCFC? You are being funny... because it made me laugh.
Arriba Los Zorros Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 To those that say we're not a possession team - well we were last year, we used to keep it high up in the opponents' half. This year, teams have more quality than us. Simples. And we are struggling to play our usual game without the ball.
Stadt Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 Drinkwater and King aren't a cohesive partnership, there's always a big gap between them and King's non-existent physicality means there's a huge hole which the opposition midfielders wander through.
lcfcsnow Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 To those that say we're not a possession team - well we were last year, we used to keep it high up in the opponents' half. This year, teams have more quality than us. Simples. And we are struggling to play our usual game without the ball. Doesn't help bringing a target man that struggles to run and sticking him up front, the work Vardy did helped the midfield no end and that's pretty much gone now as even when he does play he's not effecting the game.
kingcarr21 Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 I feel that when Hammond plays with his defensive qualities it lets the likes of Drinky turn and go on the offensive. Playing Drinky and King just means that both players are in 2 minds of whether to attack or defend. IMO when Hammond plays our midfield plays better on a whole. A quality playmaker would be great but i would like to see another defensive midfielder come in and give Drinky/Cambi/James/King the freedom to go forward and not worry about the defensive side.
AyewJoking Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 Something that has been bothering me for a while, its our Midfield and this was highlighted further on Saturday and is a real bug bearer for me. Almost every time one of our midfield players receive the ball, they take a touch back in the same direction as the pass came from, thus slowing the play down. Now I know that sometimes this is required, however they hardly ever/never let the ball run across them and drive forward, just look at how Fabregas does this (I am not expecting our players to be that good) but the Stoke players did this as well. If you throw a blanket over Drinkwater, James, Hammond, King and Cambiasso they are in reality all the same type of player, we really lacking something different in CM a strong running midfield player who can drive us forward.. has anyone else spotted the same thing? its OK for people to moan that the strikers look poor but they need quick service and currently our lack of CM speed of thought and movement is hampering us. Not sure who I would try and get but we really need something. you'll have one hell of a dutch oven.
Arriba Los Zorros Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 Doesn't help bringing a target man that struggles to run and sticking him up front, the work Vardy did helped the midfield no end and that's pretty much gone now as even when he does play he's not effecting the game. Agreed, he's pretty poor at retaining the ball and immobile, don't rate Ulloa at all
Guest Col city fan Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 I'm not being funny, but it's your 'job' to comment on every other aspect of our performances, players and managerial decisions, but suddenly not to suggest a quality attacking midfielder that would come to LCFC? So by your reckoning, because I along with many others pass comment on aspects of our play and our players on a FOOTBALL forum, I should now know who might be an available quality midfielder who could help our cause? You're reaching a little...
Robin JD Popley Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 Cambiasso and James have been head and shoulders above the rest of the midfield this season (perhaps I am biased as I think James is the natural pupil to Cambiasso / two of my favourite players) and Hammond has been the most improved I think - possibly he has grown into the role presented before him on the eve of the season. Drinkwater has been unlucky through injury but hasn't really done as much as we know he is capable of, King has had moments of his old self but overall we have not been good enough across the middle - I think we all agree on that. I don't think it would take much, I really don't but we do need someone else to bridge what Esteban and Matty give our team. It is a shame that Essien link seems like it will come to nothing but a player of his ilk/experience is what we need. Know that won't come cheap but it is a price worth paying if it makes all the difference.
Guest Col city fan Posted 22 January 2015 Posted 22 January 2015 Cambiasso and James have been head and shoulders above the rest of the midfield this season (perhaps I am biased as I think James is the natural pupil to Cambiasso / two of my favourite players) and Hammond has been the most improved I think - possibly he has grown into the role presented before him on the eve of the season. Drinkwater has been unlucky through injury but hasn't really done as much as we know he is capable of, King has had moments of his old self but overall we have not been good enough across the middle - I think we all agree on that. I don't think it would take much, I really don't but we do need someone else to bridge what Esteban and Matty give our team. It is a shame that Essien link seems like it will come to nothing but a player of his ilk/experience is what we need. Know that won't come cheap but it is a price worth paying if it makes all the difference. To be honest, they've been no better, no worse than any of the others. Hammond has probably been the best and King started the season really well. I think you need to take off your blue tints for a while and accept our midfield has been generally poor at this level. We score so rarely from the central midfield area. We rarely take longer shots from that area and our set pieces have been atrocious. We almost never look like scoring from them. We sit bottom of the table amisdt sides that are pretty much of a muchness with one of the worst records for both goals scored and goals conceded. If we go into our next lot of games relying upon the same set of midfielders who have gotten us to where we are now, I think its bizarre. My only hope is that the central mids and especially Drinkwater, suddenly show that they are finally making the step up. It's not impossible of course, but for me, the central midfield is simply not Premiership quality. If our strikers aren't scoring, we don't look like scoring.
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